


La Belle Époque

by MarianneGreenleaf



Series: Building a History Together: Marriage and Children [19]
Category: The Music Man (1962), The Music Man - All Media Types, The Music Man - Willson
Genre: Charming Victorian, Clandestine canoodling, Dance of Romance, Edwardian era, F/M, Fluff with depth, Insatiable Newlyweds, Pillow Talk, Unpacking emotional baggage, World War I, gorgeous gowns, heartwarming domesticity, love bite, smexytimes, sweet & low, trouble with a capital t
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:00:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25451278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarianneGreenleaf/pseuds/MarianneGreenleaf
Summary: Harold takes Marian to the Fireman's Ball again. This time, it isn't the concept of marriage that occupies his mind, but major events in the wider world.
Relationships: Harold Hill/Marian Paroo
Series: Building a History Together: Marriage and Children [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/26565





	La Belle Époque

**Author's Note:**

> A sequel to [Order of Dance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25091548). La Belle Époque (French for “Beautiful Epoch”) was a period of French and Western history conventionally dated from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It was a period characterized by optimism, regional peace, economic prosperity, colonial empires, and technological, scientific, and cultural innovations.

_September 1914_

Although it was the third annual Fireman’s Ball that occurred since Harold Hill arrived to River City, it was only the second time that the music professor and the librarian attended this event together. They had to skip the affair completely in 1913, as Marian was eight months pregnant with the twins and on strict bedrest. And there was no way Harold was going to leave his wife’s side to attend some stuffy old ball all by his lonesome – no matter how much the Events Committee lamented the loss of profit at the Jams and Jellies table!

While a great deal about Harold’s situation had changed since September 1912, some things remained unaltered: he wore the same black evening suit, this time with a pink and gold bowtie. And since business was booming, he urged Marian to spare no expense when she ordered a new dress for the occasion (though her waistline had slimmed back down to its formerly trim state, her figure would never be quite the same as it was before, and this had necessitated a bit of a wardrobe renovation).

But any imperfections that the librarian may have perceived about her transformed figure did not register with Harold: to his mind, Marian Paroo Hill was just as gorgeous and alluring as she was when he first laid eyes on her. So when she donned her new ensemble – a Callot Souers evening gown of pink and gold silk that was at the height of fashion – the music professor was rendered just as breathless and bamboozled by her beauty as he was the first time he’d taken her to the ball. The gown she’d chosen for herself was truly a marvelous creation: the complex series of drapes and folds somehow managed to achieve the illusion of effortless simplicity, beautifully accentuating the librarian’s sleek silhouette. And the gold tassels dangling from her diaphanous above-elbow sleeves were even longer this year! However, Marian’s favorite aspect of this frock was clearly her elegant flowing train, as once he finished fastening her into it, she divulged that she hadn’t felt like this much of a princess since her wedding day.

This time around, Harold could demonstrate his appreciation much more eloquently than simply staring at her: kissing her long and deep, he revealed _his_ favorite aspect of her gown by tracing his fingers along the six large rhinestone buttons running down the front of it, which began below her left breast and ended at the middle of her left thigh. He couldn’t wait to unbutton them later tonight and, from the ardent way Marian kissed him in return, she was experiencing the same sense of eager anticipation.

Somehow, husband and wife managed to end their embrace before they became hopelessly disheveled – but only because the doorbell rang, signifying the arrival of Mrs. Paroo and Winthrop to watch the girls for the evening. Although Harold and Marian descended the stairs flawlessly coiffed and attired, the pinkness of their cheeks and the brightness of their eyes did not allow them to conceal the depths of how besotted they were with each other and, as ever, the matron beamed with joy and I-told-you-so amusement to see how well and happily her daughter was matched in marriage.

Not that Harold felt any compunction to hide the full measure of his joy – as new parents, he and Marian didn’t often get the chance to dress up and go out like this, so they fully embraced any opportunity to be as carefree and dewy-eyed as they were when they were still courting. And after nearly two years of marriage and two children, the librarian had clearly lost any sense of shame about her own intensity of feeling for him in return, as she laughed both proudly and delightedly in response to her mother’s gentle teasing.

While their romantic evening was not without its obligations to the community – Harold did indeed find himself press-ganged into manning the Jams and Jellies table as soon as he stepped foot in the opera house – he was determined to make the most of his date with Marian. He’d made sure to purchase all of the librarian’s dances again, and was pleased to note that while there were a few token bids for her, there was nowhere near the masculine interest in buying her company as when she was still unmarried. This suited the music professor just fine. While the other young bucks no longer found Mrs. Hill so exciting, he certainly did, and even more so than when they were only courting. No longer would he have to settle for stealing just-shy-of-scandalous kisses in the corner – though he wouldn’t hesitate to do so if the opportunity presented itself. After the ball ended, he could take her home and extract her from every single layer of her complicated gown at his leisure.

It was amazing, the difference only two years had made, not only to Harold’s personal situation, but to what was going on elsewhere in the wider world. Although the music professor was a master of machination at the local level, he’d never paid any serious attention to national or international politics until he permanently settled in River City. Nowadays, he was well aware of the hubbub about the Great War in Europe, which was sparked when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated in Sarajevo last June. But as the United States prided itself on its isolationist stance and remained uninvolved in the conflict, River City was wholly untouched. Still, Harold thought it prudent to watch these current events in order to prepare for potential threats (and perhaps even take advantage of unexpected opportunities). Politics on this scale wasn’t something he could control, but he could definitely adjust to whatever circumstances he found himself in as the result of them. Even as a conman, he’d always been an adherent of Darwin’s maxim that one must adapt or die. Now that he had a wife, children, and business to mind, the music professor had expanded his horizons considerably, and was always on the lookout to ensure the survival of both his loved ones and his livelihood.

And so the 1912 presidential election was the first one Harold had ever voted in. There were four major candidates to choose from this term, but for him it came down to Woodrow Wilson vs. Theodore Roosevelt. Both he and Marian had done a great deal of research – and occasionally engaged in heated debates concerning – Wilson’s New Freedom vs. Roosevelt’s New Nationalism. Ultimately, he cast his ballot for Roosevelt. If the librarian had been authorized to vote, she would have done the same. Indeed, she was rather disgruntled that she was not allowed the precious liberty he had so callously neglected to exercise for his entire adult life (but in truth, without a permanent address he couldn’t have voted even if he’d wanted to).

However, Wilson won the election, and the librarian was miffed that she could not have provided another vote for Roosevelt, which may very well have helped tip the balance in his favor. Especially since this sentiment was shared by more than a few other forward-thinking ladies in River City, as the majority of townspeople had supported Roosevelt, though Iowa’s electoral votes had ultimately gone to Wilson. Harold, on the other hand, found it tremendously amusing and ironic that once elected, Wilson seemed to abandon his New Freedom platform and adopted policies that were more similar to those of Roosevelt’s New Nationalism. So in a roundabout way, they had all gotten what they wanted – almost.

Like him, Marian was once too wrapped up in her own troubles to pay much attention to politics. But ever since she went from spinster to wife – and subsequently gave birth to not one but two daughters – the librarian had also started to pay greater attention to the world around them. And so she was extremely interested in women’s suffrage, to the point of attending meetings with the local “votes for women” organization. It greatly irritated her that the ladies right next door in Illinois were granted the vote in 1913, due to the Bull Moose Party’s balance of power in the state legislature, but the women of Iowa remained excluded from such political enfranchisement. So not only was her group agitating for Iowa to grant women the right to vote, one of their chief activities was advocating for the passage of a national amendment for women’s suffrage. Harold supported the librarian wholeheartedly in these endeavors, as he also wanted to see a world in which his wife and daughters had the same rights to determine their political leadership as he did.

“Where are you, darling?” Marian asked tenderly as they waltzed together. “You look a million miles away.”

Harold chuckled at his foolish inattentiveness and brought his focus right back to the present. How easily his mind wandered, these days! “Your white knight has turned out to be more of a ponderer of world events than he ever imagined.”

Her brow crinkled. “Are you concerned about the war in Europe?”

“I haven’t quite achieved that level of feeling,” he said, not untruthfully. “It’s more that I’m on the alert. Because it’s my job to keep you and Penny and Elly as safe as I possibly can.”

Marian nodded understandingly. Although he knew from their frequent discussions that she was confident America would remain neutral, she had learned to trust his instincts, which had gotten him through so many dicey situations in one piece. “Well,” she said, removing her hand from his shoulder to cup his cheek, “let’s try not to think about politics right now. Tonight is for _us_.”

Harold turned his head to trace the inside of her palm with his mouth. “I wholeheartedly agree, my dear little librarian. I won’t let myself get distracted again.”

She sighed at his caress, especially as his kisses into her palm became just a little more open-mouthed. Not enough to draw attention, but just enough to tantalize and excite her. “I _do_ love that you care so much, even if we don’t always see eye to eye on current affairs.”

His eyes met hers. “I care about politics because I have someone to care about, Marian. Three very special someones. Five, if you count your mother and Winthrop. And I do.”

As their shared glance grew smoldering, Marian breathed, “Must we dance _every_ round? There’re only two dances left, and you’ve already paid for them in full – do you think anyone would miss us if we bowed out a little early?”

“No,” Harold said firmly. Even though that wasn’t necessarily the truth, he was past the point of caring. And because he couldn’t wait any longer, he whisked Marian over to their secluded corner and kissed her even more passionately than he had two years ago.

Back then, he’d still been terrified of the concept of marriage, as much as he loved and wanted the librarian. Tonight, his fingers found her wedding band and diamond solitaire and stroked them both confidently and possessively as they embraced. And when they finally came back to their senses just enough to make their way home hand in hand with a modicum of respectability – by then, Mrs. Paroo, Winthrop, and the babies were all fast asleep in their beds – Harold undressed his wife every bit as avidly and methodically as he’d been dreaming of doing earlier.

“I’m going to make love to you as many times as we can possibly manage tonight, my dear little librarian,” he informed her just before he lowered his head to nip at her naked breasts.

“What’s our record?” she gasped as her head tilted back and her eyes fluttered shut. “I always lose count after four or five rounds… _oh_!”

“So do I,” he admitted in between love-bites – and proudly, too, as he saw it as yet another delightful side effect of the heady intoxication of being in love. “That means we’re doing it _right_ … ”

Nothing more was said between the two of them for quite a while afterward. They couldn’t be loud, but that didn’t stop them from being ardent. For Harold, it was almost excruciatingly erotic, having to stifle the full intensity of his moans while he made love to Marian as sweetly and thoroughly as he knew how, and she made love to him just as keenly and capably in return. And so they drew out each other’s pleasure for as long as they could with their hands and their mouths and the rhythm of their hips, until he just had to come right along with her.

In between their bouts of lovemaking, when husband and wife lay boneless and sated for a brief interval, they whispered the sweetest of nothings to each other – any talk of politics, parenthood, or other responsibility was banished from their romantic tête-à-tête. It wasn’t until the sun peeped up over the horizon that they finally fell asleep in earnest, still bare and clinging to each other beneath their goose-down quilt – the nights were getting chillier as fall approached in earnest.

But whatever news they woke up to tomorrow; whatever challenges they faced in their family, town, or country; and whether or not the Great War stayed in Europe or grew to engulf the whole world; Harold was absolutely certain that he and Marian would be able to weather anything life threw at them. And they would come out all the stronger afterward, together.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to see what Marian's ballgown looks like this time around, you can check it out [here](https://sarita29.livejournal.com/102958.html).


End file.
